Nicholas Negroponte is a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design. He's the founder of MIT's Media Lab, which helped drive the multimedia revolution and now houses more than 500 researchers and staff. An original investor in WIRED, Negroponte also wrote a column exploring the frontiers of technology for the magazine — which he expanded into his 1995 best-selling book Being Digital.

Negroponte is also the founder of the One Laptop per Child project. The organization manufactures the XO (the "$100 laptop"), a wireless Internet-enabled, pedal-powered computer designed for children in the developing world.